Irish Show Jumping team named for Saturday’s Nations Cup in Florida as owners honoured at Horse Sport Ireland reception

Horse Sport Ireland last night (Wednesday) hosted a reception in Wellington, Palm Beach, Florida in the USA, to recognise the contribution made by owners to Irish equestrian teams. The occasion also saw the Irish Show Jumping team named for this Saturday’s four-star Nations Cup which takes place in Florida.

Photo: (l-r) Ronan Murphy (HSI CEO), Denis Lynch, Cian O’Connor, Shane Sweetnam Richie Moloney (Reserve) Paul O’Shea Rodrigo Pessoa (Irish team manager) Michael Blake (Irish Development Team Manager) Pictured at the owners reception hosted by Horse Sport Ireland in Wellington, Florida ahead of this Saturday’s Nations Cup (Photo: Simon Stafford/Starting Gate Communications)

Ireland will be bidding to win the Wellington Nations Cup for the third year in-a-row, and Development Team Manager Michael Blake has selected the following four combinations:

Shane Sweetnam with Indra Van De Oude Heihoef – owned by The Blue Buckle Group

Paul O’Shea with Skara Glen’s Machu Picchu – owned by Skara Glen’s Stables

Denis Lynch with RMF Cadeau De Muze – owned by Rushy Marsh Farm LLC

Cian O’Connor with Clenur – owned by Armin Himmelreich

The Horse Sport Ireland owners reception saw guests welcomed by Horse Sport Ireland CEO Ronan Murphy, Irish Team Manager Rodrigo Pessoa and Development Team Manager Michael Blake.

In his welcome speech, Ronan Murphy highlighted the vital role that owners have played in the success of the Irish team, who enjoyed a phenomenal year in 2017 including winning team gold at the European Championships. He also spoke about the very important year ahead for Ireland in the build up to September’s World Equestrian Games in Tryon, USA. In addition to acknowledging Team Ireland’s successes over the last 12 months, Murphy also paid tribute to those working behind the scenes for their massive contribution. He thanked owners, grooms, families, the High Performance Committee and all Team Ireland sponsors.

John Grange receives a presentation from Irish Team Manager Rodrigo Pessoa in honour of the late Sue Grange who made a huge contribution to Irish Show Jumping (Photo: Simon Stafford/Starting Gate Communications)

Rodrigo Pessoa made a very special presentation to the family of the late Sue Grange, who passed away in October of last year. Sue and the Grange family have showed incredible support to Irish riders over the last decade, first with Conor Swail and more recently with Daniel Coyle.

American-based Irishman Michael Stone, who is a former Secretary General of the FEI and now President of the Winter Equestrian Festival in Florida spoke about the growing amount of Irish riders now based in the USA.

The evening concluded with a toast, as those present wished the Irish team the best of luck in Saturday’s Nations Cup and each member of the Irish team was presented with a special memento by HSI CEO Ronan Murphy.

The Irish Show Jumping team is sponsored by The Underwriting Exchange and Devenish.

Equiline – Official athlete clothing supplier of Team Ireland Equestrian.